Jason came to me at the last minute and proposed one final, out-of-continuity “end credit” which represents his own personal goodbye to the series. Obviously, I couldn’t say no to that. So look for that on Monday.
And on WEDNESDAY, look for the beginning of a brand new spec project from me and Jason, “WEBMASTERS.” Though it has no relation to Fans or the Fansverse now, its original concept was for a Fans story. We’ve taken that core concept in an unexpected direction, but I think you’ll enjoy the results.
It’s “Put your hand on your (or someone else’s) stomach!” day.
Well, that IS a prime cloud-watching pose…
Nice to see Tim and Julia aren’t too weirded out by Future Kid! Though I had been hoping to see a future Will-and-Shanna sprout, too [I know that’s kind of a “done” ending, mind]
No denoument for Kath? I was wondering what became of her political ambitions. Also, did Guth and Tim ever hook up? I was waiting for that one.
Aw, T and Jason: I don’t think I could tell you both how much I’ve enjoyed your work and living in this world A hearty thank-you to both of you!
nice this is a very sweet picture you guys came up with
The consolation of saying goodbye to old friends is getting to meet new ones! Can’t wait to check out Webmasters.
Gorgeous image up there.
Is it weird that what I’m yearning for now is the next “Five Years Later” jump, launching into a completely new SF club, and in part exploring exactly what speculative fiction looks like in a universe where fantasy and SF are essentially just “everyday.” I mean, there have to be people looking away from what is and wondering what might be, in a world where the fantastic is mundane.
But then, I’m weird. Thanks for all of this, guys.
Eric – I’m reminded of what John W. Campbell said to Vernor Vinge, when Vinge proposed writing a sequel to “Bookworm, Run”.
“You can’t write that story. Neither can anyone else.”
What you’re proposing is beyond the Singularity.
I remember when I somehow stumbled upon the original Fans! comic waaaaaay back when and it was always at the top of my webcomics to read daily/recommend list. It was one of the few I would eagerly await the next update of. Then it ended and I was sad but it had been a great run and I still recommended it to people. Then my computer died and I lost all my bookmarks and I got lazy about getting my bookmarks back for the longest time. And then I finally got off my arse and got them back and was pleasantly surprised to find that Fans had started up again.
And now it’s ending again and I am sad again but again I really really enjoyed the story and you guys did a really great job both in the original run and this one. I do hope that some day you’ll come back and continue the story again, since sometimes characters need to be put on a shelf for awhile cause if you’re not feeling the characters or story again it’s not good to push yourselves. I still love these characters and seeing the story continue would be awesome.
But even if you never come back to writing/drawing Fans again, I just wanted to say it will always be one of my favourite webcomics ever. Thanks so much for making it for us to read and I hope you all enjoy your future projects.
With all respect to one of the seminal figures in Science Fiction? Mister Campbell has been wrong before.
Er… John Campbell. Not T. I have no evidence T has ever been wrong.
The job of science fiction is to project ever forward, and always — always — be able to ask “so what happens next?” I do not believe in the no-write scenario.
Part my spiritual life is about trying to see beyond the Singularity everyone talks about. I’m almost tempted to say that it doesn’t exist — except that time slows down as one approaches a gravitic singularity. Deconstruction happens in normal time, at a speed that everyone present can observe. It’s only the “before” and “after” that are significant.
That said, weren’t the Lensmen books about projecting “what happens next” Beyond The Ultimate?
Until there is nothing left, there is always more. Sometimes it takes a new perspective to see what that “more” can be, but history doesn’t end just because things have changed.
So let’s steer that change somewhere good.
Hope Tiki Wiki didn’t perish off-screen….
Well, I’m a VERY late-comer to the comic strip (just read everything in the last few months), but I’ve had a great time! And I’m loving Guilded Age. Thanks for everything, Jason and T!
Thanks for the ride.
Ok on page 6 we need the list of your top 5 fave Faans moments…
Everyone study hard over the weekend
This is such a wonderful moment. I’m bookmarking it so I can come back to it now and then. Thank you for the wonderful run of “Fans”. I’ll behere next week for What Comes Next!
I love how their kid is a collection of their traits. Daddy’s eyes and hair, mommy’s nose and cheeks…
No, sorry, I didn’t mean that there wouldn’t continue being SF writers in the world of FAANS, five years down the road in a world where all of these tropes have come true and integrated themselves into the everyday lives of the global population.
I’m saying that T. Campbell can’t predict what other SF writers would write about in such a world.
Asimov said something about how anyone could predict the car, but it requires an SF writer’s mind to predict drive-in movies and traffic jams.
What you’re proposing is the equivalent of predicting the Transformers.
@Danny — whereas I’m saying he could.
Which sounds like the classic definition of “agreeing to disagree.”
Suffice it to say, if T can define the ‘everyday life’ of his new world, which I believe he can, he can also extrapolate the annoyances of that life, the social ills that come with it, and the things people wish can be closed in the gap. Some of those yearnings would be dark — to be left alone, to have supremacy in the Community. Some would be bright — to walk with the Community into new spaces and become a respected member. And some would be neither — discussing the changes in personal freedom, or the teleportation grid that would replace these boring old jetpacks and flying cars, or the transhuman ideal once mankind evolves a little bit.
What’s that? You’d think mankind had already evolved to a transhuman state?
Me too. But they wouldn’t. That target’s ever moving forward. Heck, right now I’ve got access to the aggregate of human knowledge in my hip pocket, the capacity to casually communicate with people all over the world, and I’m feeling perfectly healthy ten years after having a condition which twenty years before would have inevitably killed me. To someone from 1940, we would already be [i]past[/i] the singularity.
But I’m willing to bet Isaac Asimov could still write stories that project ahead of us. Probably because he did.